'Simple act of speaking one's truth ... an act of bravery'

The college professor whose uncorroborated charge of sexual assault roiled the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court has been nominated for a distinguished alumna award at her alma mater, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

A professor at the university said Ford did “something that was extraordinary” when “she told the truth about a sexual assault she experienced when she was fifteen years old at the hands of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.” The Hill reported.

The professor, Jennifer Ho, teaches in the university’s Department of English and Comparative Literature. Ford earned an undergraduate degree at the state school in experimental psychology in 1988.

Insisting her nomination was not about politics, Ho writes in a letter obtained by The Hill that it was about “recognizing that the simple act of speaking one’s truth, especially when that truth involves sexual assault, is an act of bravery.”

“We live in a society that does not believe women,” she writes. “The many indignities that women experience in their day-to-day lives is proof of this, as is the continued attacks on Dr. Blasey Ford after her testimony.”

Ho said it’s known that people “who are survivors of sexual assault do not experience justice for their trauma” and “many of them choose not to report to the police and choose not to reveal their assault out of fear that they will not be believed.”

“She’s gonna get book deals offered to her,” he said. “There are gonna be TV movies and HBO feature movies. Then there will be documentaries. Then there will be probably one of those Netflix ‘Making of a Murderer’-type series to explain how Kavanaugh beat back her charges and scarred and ruined her for the rest of her life and all of that.

“We’re just seeing the beginning here of the rehabilitation of Blasey Ford,” said Limbaugh.

Ho said she wants to send the message that “UNC Chapel Hill believes survivors of sexual assault.”

The accusation by Ford delayed the vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation, putting it in doubt as the psychology professor testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, followed by the judge’s emphatic denial and impassioned rebuttal.

Kavanaugh was sworn in Saturday evening after the Senate narrowly confirmed him, 50-48, with only one Democrat voting yes.